Tag: travel

After all, this time we will review one of our favourite cafe in Singapore. It was a very crowded cafe all the time – there was always waiting list, so you should go straight to their ipad at the entrance and fill the guest info to get the queue number. When it comes to your number, waiter will walk you inside and you can see the cafe’s interior fills with urban and homey style just as good as Singapore can be, the concrete walls, chalk board, recycle material as bottles turn into a lamp, cute chairs and retro stuffs all around.

Time to order something good, the menu here at lola’s are mainly organic – feels homemade and healthy, so it’s very interesting for most of society people. Luckily we were on diet, so it was perfect :D. I strongly recommend the benedict – never a disappointment. But we also tried the Chicken Grain Bowl and their famous Honey Paprika Crispy Wing.

For the beverages, bcoz it was a very sunny day and we did a lot of walking, we wanted something refreshing. We ordered Iced Honey Chamomile Tead and Iced Mocha – since the coffee smell was so tempting inside Lola’s.

And turned out that the iced mocha was sooo good! It was creamy and chocolatey but we can still feel the thick flavour of the coffee. Just perfect! Already craving their iced mocha here in this hot sunny day in Bintan 😦

We should get back here and try another menus for sho’, but going to Sg is not a really good idea since it’s so hype and hedonistic, it may break our vow to nature in Bintan Island (and our bank too) LOL.

I am finally getting around to posting photos from our family trip to Johor Bahru and Singapore when our fams came visit us here in Bintan last month. We went to JB on the ferry from Pelabuhan Sri Bintan Pura Tanjung Pinang. It was our first experience and we didn’t expect a three hours ride. Too bad we didn’t prepare that and had nothing to entertain ourselves, so… we just slept like a log until we arrived!

One of the beautiful street mural creations in JB made a great photo background for me and my sist.

Strolled around the city, and found some cool little shops, selling vintage stuff and locally made things.

Then we took some afternoon bites atRoost. We love the foods and the drinks here, and not to forget, the interior! The whole area was decorated with recycled furniture. They used oil barrels, crates, cardboard and even a trolley. Not that kind of cafe with fancy decorations, but it was so cozy and homey!

We stayed a night in JB, and then the next morning we went to Singapore on the train. We had brunch at our fave place,Lola’s Cafe. My fave is their egg benedict and iced mocha. Yum!

Last but not least, we went to the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at National Gallery Singapore. Drown in Kusama’s colorful world, one great way to end this short trip!

Bintan Island was made by tectonic earthquake long time ago, it made the island structure upside down, quote by some local geologist professor that i met not so long ago. That was what made Bintan has many hills and upside down road. And also made the most awesome and challenging cycling track i ever had, since i lived in Jakarta for a long time, they dont have any extreme upside down road like here.

Another excitement is the beautiful scenery along the road, fresh air, low traffic (especially outer Tanjung Pinang), and the distance between town isn’t too far (around 20-30km). So you can explore town to town, go to beach, or even go explore the uncharted area around, plus you got a healthier and slimmer body!

Well, guess we keep cyclin then!Route 1 : Batu 9 Tanjung Pinang – Kijang (22km), really tough route to beat for me. It’s just.. the uphill, is so devastating , but thank god we can survive on the way back LOL.

Route 2 : Batu 8 Tanjung Pinang – Dompak (13km), Favourite route so far, coz is near home and Dompak has a wide stretch of road and clear traffic, images above is us (with Aldo) went cycling in rain, but still yo happiness around.

Route 3 : Batu 9 Tanjung Pinang – Galau Beach Dompak (17km), road is off and it’s time to offroad riding, near the beach we must push our bike because the sand is thick. We go there with our lovely neighbour Iqbal & Mayang. Oh yeah its me pose on that Galau Rocky Beach, cheers!

Again, another friend of ours from Jakarta came to visit us in Bintan. And it was Aldo time to explore this island. By the way, this was his first time being on plane, so here’s you can see his awkward relieved face when he finally arrived, lol!

We went to Mama Beach in Trikora (our personal fave spot in Trikora!), and Aldo the city guy was too excited as he ran around everywhere like a four years old never seen a beach.

As a coffee addict, it was such a joy for Aldo that he could find coffeeshop nearly everywhere, yeah EVERYWHERE, here in Bintan island. One famous must-try coffeeshop is Kedai Kopi Kawan Lama (if you ever heard about Kopi Hawaii, this actually similiar), located in Kijang, half hour from Tanjungpinang city. Unfortunately, when we came there, the shop was closed, too bad! Then we decided to tried out another coffeeshop randomly near there.

1. Give it up to Mr.Arnold! | 2. The server girl whom Aldo had a crushed on| 3. Caffeine time!

The place is old and rusty, there were plenty of old men sitting there with a cup of coffee and starring blankly at the TV. There was some kind of awkward dark vibes goin on, but surprisingly the coffee was good, not much different than the Kawan Lama. The coffee was strong and thick almost chocolatey in its texture, and the smell was…greattt! If you like strong coffee, you might love the coffee here!

After beach, coffee, and some lazy days at our home, last but not least we went to Dompak for sunset. Sat on the side of the bridge, took some photos, and enjoyed the beautiful evening breeze and sunset.

1,2. Just another scene of Wong Kar Wai “Takeshi”| 3. One of must do things in Dompak bridge| 4. We both managed some say cheeze smile | 5,6. Enjoy the sunset brah

So after many “Takeshi” moment, FYI Aldo often feel himself transcent into some “Chungking Express” scene as Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of his alpha male role model. that was how we explored the island with Aldo. From 2 nights plan to another extra 3 nights. Finally time to get back to work Aldo! Bye to lazy island life!